Im not even going to ask! Im gonna be around Sydney at that time if anyone wants to meet up for a drink or something.

I'm flying into Sydney today, gonna be staying at the hilton fri-sun night, then probably find some other hotels for the rest of the week. If anyone wants to get together for beers or something, they're on me, PM. I'll need some orientation lol.

I recently stayed at the Sheraton on the Park and really liked it.

On another note, if anyone is in Melbourne on a Thursday night and would like to meet young, hot Australian girls, I highly recommend Seven. One of the best crowds I've seen, both in terms of M:F ratio and quality. YMMV

imo the chinese women in sydney are awesome!!
and darlingshurst+potts points are great places to live at.

btw. cityhobo.com was quite helpful to find a suburb.
describes all suburbs in melbourne and sydney

Do you consider there to be to many irish over there at the moment?

Whats the chances of getting a job? ( I have a diploma in health and safety) Mainly construction based.

What is rent like for a 3 bedroomed house ( need not be anything special)

Would it be hard to get a job dealing in one of the casinos?

I don't know how to answer this quesiton.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has a website at http://www.abs.gov.au/ which provides statistics on the demographics (including ethnic background and place of birth)
Unemployment is now at around 5.8% and rising. Don't blame me, I voted Liberal.

It varies in different places. You could get a 3 bedroom house for under $250 in a decent country town, through to paying $1500 for one on Sydney harbour with bridge views (weekly rent)
No, I don't think so.

I'm playing the main event. The PLO with one rebuy looks good. I will probably play a couple satellites cause people suck at those.

Just want to confirm that tipping isn't normal here and that most people don't tip at all. I'm not sure I believe Yeti. The cab driver today definitely made a point of telling us today that the canadians he had that morning gave him 70$ for a 55$ fare from the airport.

I can confirm that percentage tipping isn't normal.

That said, when the taxi fare to get home on Friday night was $37, I was happy to let it round up to the nearest "note" (ie, multiple of $5).

If the taxi fare came to $50.10 to $54.90, paying $55 is fine. If the taxi fare came to $92, I guess you could round to $95 or $100.

What about at a bar (when being served at a table or direct from the bartender)? At a restaurant? Round up also? %?

I ran up a tab at a bar tonight. It came to $19.80. I paid with a $20 note and dropped the 20c coin in the tip jar. I think that's pretty standard, but that most people would pocket the coin and leave without any further thought.

The minimum wage in Australia is hugely higher than in the US, and thus, people in such employment get paid better.

Yes. If you thought there was good service you could do 10% I guess.

Good newspaper article on the employment conditions in restaurants and stuff from today: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...017771,00.html

I agree with Josem. Rounding to the nearest whole dollar amount is pretty standard, but there is no expectation to tip.

Bar staff here usually get paid at least $20 per hour, often up to $25 per hour at popular places. They don't need tips to survive, and they certainly don't deserve a couple of dollars tip just for pouring a beer in my opinion....

Tipping just doesn't exist in Australia.

If you want to tip for service over and above standard then go ahead. It's extremely unlikely you will recieve that kind of service in Australia though.

stick to the rounding it up to nearest note if you wish to tip

Well now that I'm here, everything is pretty sweet. Just one complaint..

The internet absolutely sucks. I've been on 6-7 different connections in Sydney and the Gold Coast and they've all been terrible. Sigh. I guess I'll have to try the mobile broadband providers and pay out my ass, hopefully those are better.

No, mobile broadband is horrible. What ISP are you using to connect currently? Most landline DSL packages are quite good, although more expensive than in the US.

Im using telstras mobile broadband, and I think its pretty awesome interms of speed and coverage.

Whats the cost JDPriest? Can you pick it up at any telstra store? Being able to play on the beach would be an added bonus.

I'm not sure what carrier I'm with now, only that its "512 up/down". It's the only option in my building I've heard.

Cool thread.
I'm a 19yo sophomore studying Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech. I'm considering graduate school and would absolutely love the chance to study in Australia, but I've got some questions.

Which Australian universities should I look at for graduate engineering? VT is a competitive engineering school, ranked 8th among undergrad engineering schools at public universities and the undergrad Mechanical Engineering program is 14th among all ME programs (U.S. News & World Report's “America's Best Colleges 2008”) so resume shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Also, if I pursued a graduate degree there would I be able to find work in Australia afterward if I wanted to make it my permanent home or would I have to return to the States?

If I lived in Australia during grad school and played poker would I still have to pay taxes to the US Government? I assume so but want to know what most US expats do.

Thanks for any answers.

http://www.topuniversities.com/country_guides/au_nz/

You will find various ranking lists for Australian universities, but the usual suspects are Australian National University, University of Melbourne, University of Sydney, University of Queensland and the University of New South Wales.

You probably wouldn't want to go to ANU cos it's in Canberra, but I'll put my vote in for the University of Melbourne. University is very central, public transport is great, and we have the best poker room in Australia by far.

http://www.eng.unimelb.edu.au/ (UM Engineering)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Melbourne

I doubt you would have to pay taxes on poker winnings, be they from tournies or ring games.

http://www.go8.edu.au/
There's a 'points' program that assesses people for permanent residency.

http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/gener...visa-works.htm is likely to be helpful.

I don't know for sure, but my understanding from reading these forums is that the first $80k of your income while living outside the US is not taxable by the US.

I - and basically every internationally recognised ranking system - think this is only a partial listing of the best universities in Australia.

UWA, Adelaide Uni and Monash Uni are also right up there.
I also disagree with this - it totally misses the point of the US-related question it was in response to, but I think it is also wrong when it applies to Australian tax law.

Here is a summary of my view: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...46&postcount=5

It certainly isn't "clear" in the minds of many online poker players, and in that sense, I'm certainly in the minority - most Australian online poker players think it is tax free and that there are no taxation implications.

This is not expert advice. If you want expert tax or legal advice, see an accountant or lawyer and don't rely on anonymous sources

bware did not specifically ask about online poker. I don't think you can relate Joe Hachem's case or any other cases to bware's potential situation. bware will pass all 6 tests anyway. And if bware plays B&M and cashes in tournies or ring games, there is little to no expectation that he will need to report this, as is the case for the rest of us.

Telstra is definitely the most expensive option. The modem itself costa $149 AUD, and then you prepay for usage, Im paying $100 for 7gb, which has a 30 day expiry on it. Obviously this isnt cheap, but if you dont have access to a fixed line, then this is a pretty good option, as the speed and coverage have been excellent so far. You will get a pretty good connection at most beaches, assuming you arent on some remote west coast spot.

Telstra is in the process of upgrading their network to 21mbps, but i think you can only get the 21mbps usb modems if you are on a business plan at the moment. They will probably release a prepaid version in the coming months....

haha good beer hey,i still like him and i'm australian,
depending on where u live i think it would be so xpensive not even worth try